Why are copy machines so enormous?

[ceiling_fan]

Basically every piece of technology has decreased in size immensely over the years, except the copy machine. I mean, what the heck requires that much space?

 

[daan]

A3 paper.

The bottom compartment in that one is just a cupboard. The 2 drawers above that is where the paper is stored. The copy machine itself is the same size as the panel that says HP on it.

 

[wfooshee]

Using your examples, the part I left highlighted is the copy machine. That's not so big! The rest is paper handling, and places that need copiers need paper handling. 2000-sheet drawers, or even 5000-sheet. They need 30 to 60 pages per minute. They need sorters, staplers, binders. They need multiple output trays, multiple input trays.

What they don't need is a compact unit that holds 50 sheets of paper and takes at least 17 seconds to spit out a page, which is what you see with the small lasers and inkjets you're probably comparing these to.

 

[Stevisiov]

Yep, my printer has a photocopy for up to A4 size and it is nowhere near as big. These examples are heavy duty though, they can roll off loads quickly but most of the space taken is uneeded really unless you use loads of copies e.g at a school. The width is required but it the height isn't really needed.

 

[ceiling_fan]

Ahh. Thanks for the answers. 👍

 

[daan]

The width is required but it the height isn't really needed.

The only need for height is to bring it up to the level of the normal standing person for ease of use. I'm sure they could be made shorter but there is no need to.


And

 

[wfooshee]

If all you do is make an occasional copy, your all-in-one printer/scanner/fax device makes great copies. Eventually.

If you run a law office and publish real estate documents and contracts, you need more paper than even that big one above can hold, and you certainly can't wait for it to print 45 copies of a 300-page document at 15 seconds per page, while standing there reloading the input tray every 75 sheets, and you certainly don't want to manually sort those pages out afterwards, either.

95% of a copier's work is paper handling. Right source, right output, right order, front and back or single-sided. And it has to do that for thousands of sheets a day for years.

If you're looking at your deskjet printer and wondering why they need that, you just have no idea! My job is IT support for a PC company, and most of our big customers are law offices or lenders, this being a fairly active real estate area. These people handle paper! Lots of paper! It can't be overstated how much goes through these processors.

As for height, yes you can get a table-top copier no bigger than a small laser or big inkjet, and you can make perfectly good copies with it. But they don't do any of the other stuff that the rest of these machines' parts do.

 

[FoolKiller]

And

Actually, they should make it just a little shorter to avoid this:


If you can keep your weight on your feet you will be fine.

 

[opendriver]

The only need for height is to bring it up to the level of the normal standing person for ease of use. I'm sure they could be made shorter but there is no need to.


And

You've just made my day sir.


As everyone else said, most of the space is used for paper storage. There is a reason that it can hold 1000+ sheets of paper.

 

[ExigeEvan]

And have you seen the size of the ink cartridge on those things!?

And not to be forgotten is that a home 3-in-one probably digitally scans the image and then sends that to the inkjet printed. The office printer uses static to create the simple black and white images so they can be reproduced quickly and efficiently.

 

[kikie]

There's a little guy in there with a camera to make the "copies".

 

[ceiling_fan]

There's a little guy in there with a camera to make the "copies".